The marketing department at Salsa Cycles HQ have just released details of their 2024 Fat-Bike line up and if you didn’t know, there’s some big news… We’ve got new spec, new colors, and a new name! Beargrease The Beargrease was inspired in part by John Beargrease, the son of an Anishinaabe chief, who carried mail […]
Archive | Bike Black Ribbon
Shelltrack ’23 Race Report
The Snow Crown Race Series kicked off its first race last weekend in Manitowoc. The Shelltrack race goes back to the beginning of fat bike racing in Wisconsin. It’s one of my favorite spots that host a race and it’s only a couple of hours away. The course is in a county park that’s nestled […]
2022 Fat Biker’s Holiday Gift Guide
It’s the Fat-Bike.com Holiday Gift Guide with something for everyone that has a fat bike enthusiast on their holiday shopping list. This year, we surveyed our Bike Black Ribbon Society brain-trust for what they’d like to see under the tree and researched diverse and creative gifting solutions for months on end. We started working on […]
Fat (video) Tuesday – Summer Squatch
You get a front-row seat to Summer Squatch at Levis Mound through the lens of our amigo rrrrRico (roll them r’s) aka MTB trail Sherpa! There are cameos by (yours truly) and pretty much all of my gnome cousins from Iowa and mi hermano de otras mamacitas, Adam Blake. You’ll see dignitaries from the greater […]
Singlespeed USA 2022
One of the reoccurring waves of enthusiasm for two-wheeled fun that I’ve enjoyed over the years has been driven by singlespeed bicycles. It probably was heavily influenced by growing up near Chicago and the Schwinn Bicycle Company. I grew up riding steel singlespeeds. Somewhere in my twenties, I started mountain biking on a steel Rockhopper […]
The Dose of Fat – Summer 2022
It’s Summer cats and kitties! Have you ridden your bike to a large body of water and then gone swimming? Time to do a cannonball into the deep end!
FatFOD
Last weekend I met up with some of the fat bike guys from the south of England for FatFOD. FatFOD is an annual met up run by Graham Foot of Smokestone bikes. A couple of social days riding the natural tracks close to Gloucester followed by beers in the evening. Big views Saturdays route was […]
Solstice Bucksaw Bivvy
Summer solstice, the fattest day of the year! As part of my bivvy a month challenge, the month of June was slowly nearing its end. With other plans covering the weekend (FatFOD), my only chance of getting a bivvy done in June was going to have to be a midweek getaway after work and try […]
S240 – Fat Bike Freedom
The Sub 24 Hour Overnite or S24O is, yet another, sterling example of bicycle freedom and potentially another excuse to ride your fat bike. I’m quite fond of the S24O. I’ve recently taken a couple of S24O trips to two local remote campsites with different set-ups, just to keep things interesting. My old Surly back […]
Klunkedekic Video Tuesday
Sunshine and klunky Tuesdays amigos! Does anybody else have Spring Fever? Today’s clip really got my blood going with the story of how the Crested Butte Pearl Pass tour all got started. Do you have an old mountain bike or klunker in the shed? Here’s an event in Osage Iowa that just popped up on […]
Dose of Fat – March ’22
The calendar says that it’s Spring but Winter isn’t over until the fat-bike sings. The Dose of Fat is back with a look at what’s going on in the fat-bike.com test bunker and what our colleagues are working on out in the field. Stand by for Spring….wait for it….It’s snowing again….remember that gnomes control the […]
Chasing the Last Snow
For the last dozen, or so, years, my wife, Bethany, and I, have been blessed to live with Bodhi, Cecil & Cowboy. Bodhi and Cecil are both gone now but Cowboy is still around. All three of our boys are what they call Bernese Mountain Dogs. They’re like little bears and they have a thick […]
Dose of Fat – February 2022
Here are a few things happening in the world of Fat Bikes! It’s the end of February and Fat Bike Racing is set at the proverbial “eleven”! We just got a new fresh coating of snow and I’m looking forward to some sweet Wisconsin singletrack this weekend. I was looking at our event calendar and […]
Disc Brake Flip Flop
In the early days of fat bike development, complete bikes came spec’d with mechanical disc brakes. It was my understanding that the story behind that was hydraulic disc brakes were unreliable at arctic temperatures. I rarely get the opportunity to ride in true arctic temperatures, so when I built my Corvus, I chose a pair […]
Global Fat Bike Day Turns Ten
The tenth year of Global Fat Bike Day is in the rearview mirror and I think that (for me personally) it was the best one (that I can remember). Over the past decade, I’ve traveled far and wide around the Great Lakes on GFBD. I’ve been to one of the largest group rides up in […]
The Weekly Dose of Fat – Black Fly-Day 2021
Let’s just jump right in with Nick Barbetta’s Krampus on the north rim of grand canyon! #visualslpendor Newness Leialoha Concetta Sousa-Sommo Fat Biking in Alaska Terrene released their new tweener 27.5 x 4.3 Yippy Ky Yay fat bike tire this week. It’s sort of a goldilocks fat knobby varietal for the ‘one tire does it […]
Wanna go Play Bikes at Levis this weekend? #lmftf
Yes Yes
Levis Mound Fat Tire Festival
If you want to be guaranteed a shirt you should probably go ahead and pre-register. Pre-registration is open until 8/20/21 ◄ Bringing Derby Back to Levis Mounds! ► September 10th thru 12th – 2021 In the tradition of the bike festival formerly know as Gnomefest comes the Levis Mound Fat-Tire Festival set for September 10th thru the […]
Full Suspension Fat Full Monty
I decided that it was high time to get out and ride the Full Monty at Kettle. The Full Monty is a colloquialism for riding the Blue Loop at the John Muir Trail system to the Connector Trail to the Green Loop at the Emma Carlin Trail system. Then back to the connector and home […]
Free to Ride the Country
Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to rough it to get your bike-fun merit badge. I’m here to tell you that it’s ok to go glamping or (gasp!) stay in a nice hotel and soak in the hot tub after a day in the saddle. I see a lot of press about riders […]
Reader’s Ride(s) Adam Blake’s Salsa Beargrease aka Buzz Lightyear
The Details Bicycle Base: Salsa Beargrease 2019 GX style with Kingpin Deluxe fork Hbar: Whisky 31.8 750mm width Stem: Paul Boxcar 90mm up from the stock 70 length, and in SUPER RAD PURPLE Grips: Wolftooth Fatpaw grips Brakes: Sram Guide RS with Centerline-X 180/160 rotors Shifter: Sram GX 12sp Seatpost: SDG Tellis when running a […]
Da Crusher 40 EX Race Report – by JP Syverud
Todd Poquette is at it again. He loves creating super hard races in the most secluded spots in the UP of Michigan, changing the course every year. This year he outdid himself. His goal, for participants of the 40-mile event, was to experience Mosquito Gulch. Mosquito Gulch is a long stretch of nasty boulders. There […]
The Levis Mound Fat Tire Festival
◄ Bringing Derby Back to Levis Mounds! ► September 10th thru 12th – 2021 In the tradition of the bike festival formerly know as Gnomefest comes the Levis Mound Fat-Tire Festival set for September 10th thru the 12th at the fabled Levis Trow Mountain Bike Trails! This is an event for all of the folks […]
Klunkedelic – REEB Hooptie (in da hizzie)
I’ve been lusting after REEB’s Hooptie since it premiered a couple of years back. The Hooptie is a blend of a mid/long-travel hardtail along with a classic Klunker. After the editorial board gave the green light to launch Project Klunkedelic (this here series of articles), I contacted Tim at REEB to see if we could […]
Back to Back Bandito Loops – Maverick vs. Montana
I decided to take a ride the other morning with the purpose of comparing a Framed Montana full-suspension fat bike and the Wyatt maverick front suspension fat bike. I basically wanted to see which one was faster. I have a local loop that I like to call the Bandido that consists of chip and seal […]
My Fat Fish Forty Race Tale
I started planning for the Fat Fish Forty a couple of months back. I pinged mi amigos but a couple of dudes planned on hitting the Balls Ride that weekend and the others were otherwise disinclined. That’s the way she goes with things. Trying to get a bunch of bike rebels to commit to anything […]
Fat-Bikes at Levis
Over the past year and a half, I’ve been dreaming about bike shenanigans, waiting for a time that we can start to gather together for a good bike party. With the new CDC recommendations for vaccinated people to be able to gather together, Adam Blake and I put together a little get-together with some close […]
Klunkedelic – State Bicycle Klunker
Is the State Bicycle Co. Klunker the deal of the Summer? Somewhere back around 2015, I saw a story about the Asylum Hank that I ride today. I brought it up during one of our early Dose of Fat Podcasts and ordered one in early ’16. That bike gets as much attention as my fat […]
Fat (video) Tuesday – Choose Your Future… by Coastkid
Bruce Mathieson is back with a Fat Tuesday Video with a message and Shimano’s All Bodies on Bikes – Something that we support with all of our hearts!
Klunkedelic!
New Series – Klunkedelic!
Product Spotlight – 2021 Framed Montana F/S Fatty by Byrone
The Framed Bikes Montana Full Suspension Fat-Bike gets a first look from our newest BBR Test Pilot Byrone
Kora Yak Wool Holocene Vest Review by Greg Gentle
My New Favorite Thing: The Kora Holocene Vest: I have claimed a number of favorite things over the years. When I was seven years old my favorite thing was my Steve Austin Six Million Dollar Man action doll. By ten I moved on to my California Free-Former skateboard. At thirteen it was my Mongoose […]
Sweaty Yeti Alt – Feb 26th,27th,28th – A virtual race (WI)
I think like many of us, my inner twelve year old is bursting at the seams to get out and ride at a huge fat-bike party with beer and FUN! The Sweaty Yeti at Levis has always been an event that brings me back to the early days of fat-bike racing. With the Covid 19 […]
The Danger Gnome Podcast – November 2020 – New Fat-Bikes, Snow Crown Race Series & Bearclaw Bicycle Co.
The Danger Gnome Podcast welcomes Geo Kapitz and Jason Lowetz to the program to talk about the Snow Crown Race Series and the Bearclaw Bicycle Co. Tomak
Gnomeproof Gadgets – Noxgear 39g Wearable Bluetooth Speaker
Three generations of Bluetooth Speakers – L-R Boombotix OG, Noxgear 39g & Boombotix Mini Hi, my nombre esta es Gomez and I’m a gadgetaholic. I’m especially addicted to gadgets that play music. I remember all the way back to the 1960’s, when I was just a kid, we would listen to WLS (a Chicago top […]
Fat Tribe Friday – GFBD 2020 – Positive Vibrations
It’s pert near fall so that means that it’s time to think about the OG of fat-bike holidays – Global Fat-Bike Day. As we’re all aware, this year is fraught with pandemic concerns and I’ve been spending a fair amount of time trying to come up with a plan that addresses everyone’s concerns. I have […]
ZEAL™ Pro Launches Protection for Mountain and Fat-Bikes
Zeal Pro is testing the waters of Fat-Bike transit protection with a Kickstarter Campaign. The new product is part of virtual Sea Otter that’s happening right now. Take a look and let’em know what you think in the comments below. Press Release Highland, Utah, September 17, 2020 – After a very successful launch of ZEAL™ […]
Wren Bar & Stem Review
Back in June, we posted a ‘First Look’ about the Wren 350 Series Bar and Crazy Lightweight Stem that’s been bolted to the Steer Tube of my fat-bike, and today I’m going to share my thoughts on how all that worked out. If you’d like to see just how light these Wren components are, just […]
Our Test Pilots Share Their Gravel Rigs
A couple of weeks back, I shared my gravel bike’s third mutation and that article provided the inspiration for today’s compilation of our staff’s collection of gravel bikes. I’m a subscriber to the theory that (almost) every bike is a gravel bike, which is kind of supported by the variety of what these groovy cats […]
Fattest Day Ride – Pagan Bike Chicanery at Levis
Shortly after launching the #fattestdayride celebration, I started to think about what I should do to celebrate the Solstice. I thought that a pagan weekend of bike chicanery at Levis sounded like a good plan for what mi amigo, Erv Spanks reminded me is the third fat-bike holiday on the calendar. I somehow managed to […]
Teravail Coronado 29×2.80 Tanwall Tire Review
About eighteen months ago we took possession of a set of 29×2.80 Teravail Coronado tires. You might say that this was the set of tires that started the thought process that gave birth to the new set of Bike Nerd inspired 35mm (id) wheels. This is what I closed our first article about the tires […]
Stashers Bag Review by Andy Amstutz
Bags…Bags…get ya bags here. I have fallen in love with bags on my bikes. What used to be a simple “under the saddle” bag with a tube, tire lever, multi-tool and maybe some CO2, has evolved into carrying keys, phones, pumps, snacks and oh, maybe, just possibly, a few adult beverages for the mid-ride social […]
Niche Bike News – Klunkers – Gravel – Wide Drops – Birds – Film – Contest
Simple #klunkybuttsauce If you wanna know the truth behind the core motivation behind this new NBN series, then you need to look no farther than the bicycle in the photo above. Do you klunk? Are you at least klunk curious? I’ve been a fan of curved tubed bikes like this since I was a kid […]
UK Packrafting Meet Up
John ‘Climber’, one of Fat-bike,com’s friends decided it would be a great idea to get people who are packraft curious together in North Wales, UK. Luckily for me the venue was just a 1 hour drive away which was on the shores of Bala lake. However the attraction of trying out packrafts attracted people from […]